DAWN'S BROTHERLY LOVE? - BSC 10 year reunion spinoff 2
by MissHWrites
Summary: Things haven't been ok between Dawn and her brother, Jeff for a long time. In fact, they haven't spoken in years! When some unexpected news about him comes her way, Dawn must decide whether family really does come first..or not.
1. Chapter 1

Dawn Schaefer-Weiss zipped up her black slacks and smoothed out her white cotton blouse before looking in the mirror. Her light blonde hair hanging long and loose, she decided earrings weren't necessary but a necklace could brighten up her simple outfit and she opened up her jewelry box. Luckily she only had one of three necklaces to choose from, which were all gifts from her husband, Ben. Having lots of fancy jewelry didn't suit her laid-back and casual California style of dressing so three was plenty and she decided on a black pearl drop necklace and the dark pearl complimented her pants well. She looked at her watch.

"9:45." She needed to get to work.

Having already dropped off her son, River at his daycare center..and in her pajamas no less, Dawn hurried back home to get herself ready for work at the interior design business she owned with her stepmother, Carol. She slipped on some black pearlescent ballet flats that matched her necklace perfectly but it was completely coincidental, as she had had those shoes for a good 4 years, while the necklace was a gift Ben had bought her that year for Valentine's Day.

As she drove herself to work, she thought back to earlier in the morning when she dropped off her one year old son and him clinging to her and pulling on her shirt before he was whisked away by one of the daycare workers who hurried into the baby room with him so he can play with the other children, trying to transition him as best and fast as she could to distract him from his mommy and prevent any meltdowns. She always had a hard time dropping him off, knowing she had to leave River in the care of someone else but she also knew he was in good hands and Dawn and Ben paid an arm and a leg for full time care at one of the best daycare centers in the city so she never worried about him. Besides, Dawn wasn't the stay-at-home mom type and she had a great business she'd never walk away from.

As she walked from her car to her office building, she felt the warm June air on her face and she looked forward to another day at work, doing what she loved.


	2. Chapter 2

As she walked into her office, she was greeted by Jessica, the new summer intern Carol had hired. "Good morning, Mrs. Weiss" she said with a smile. Dawn shot her a look with a raised eyebrow and said, "Nope. It's Dawn. You know that."

"Sorry" she said back sheepishly.

Dawn asked "Hey, why are you up here? Where's Kim?"

Referring to their usual receptionist, Jessica replied "she called out sick today."

"Oh. Ok" said Dawn, pausing for a second before adding "Well, good morning!" before heading to her office. Dawn and Carol's office was quite unique. Aside from the reception area that was separated by a solid wall, the rest of the office was essentially just one big room, with 3 drafting tables in the middle and 4 separate desks surrounding them. Two of them were occupied by their two junior designers and Jessica the intern sat at another one. The fourth desk was unused and piled high with leftover fabric and various other design supplies. While Dawn and Carol both had private offices, they had glass walls which kept the whole place feeling big and open. The main reason for the glass was that it made the offices soundproof, allowing Dawn and Carol to focus on their jobs in peace and quiet if need be.

Dawn was currently handling a decent sized project by herself, working on a private home which had undergone a kitchen and dining room remodel and Dawn was putting the finishing touches on the display boards she was planning to present to the clients in just a few hours. Luckily, their preferences were right up her alley as they lived in an amazing home right on the beach and definitely wanted to keep the beachy vibe in their new kitchen. Dawn came up with three different concepts, the first being a darker and more rustic beach look with the cabinets a slightly unfinished dark color, reminiscent of driftwood. Another one was much lighter and modern, with white, cream and tan accents and simple plain white subway tiles. She was very happy with both ideas but her favorite was the design that was a little more out there, with white quartz counters flecked with glittery silver spots, light wood for the cabinets and a really unique spanish style mission style tile for the wall backsplash. It was a flower print in light and dark blues, a small pop of yellow and a little white that matched the countertops, making the room very cohesive. If she had her way, the walls would be painted the same light blue color in the tile as well.

Dawn was positive that between the three choices, the client would like at least one. Before getting ready to head over, she poked her head into Carol's office, whom she hadn't seen yet that morning. "Hey you" said Dawn. "Happy Friday!"

Carol looked up. "Oh, hey sweetie. Busy morning?"

"Just a little" Dawn replied. "I'm heading back out to meet the beach house clients but I just wanted to say hello first. Just then, the main phone rang and Dawn heard a voice over the wall, saying "C&D Designs, how may I direct your call?" after a short pause she heart "one moment, please" as the call went to one of their other designers. Dawn thought she sounded so professional so she looked back at Carol and said quietly "She's working out pretty well, huh?"

Carol gestured for Dawn to come in her office and shut the door and then she said "Yeah, I like her a lot. I think I want to bring her on board."

Jessica didn't look much older than 18 and Dawn commented "She looks pretty young, Carol. Is she still in school?"

"She just graduated from OCC."

Dawn smiled, as Orange Community College was where she went to school too.

Carol continued on. "Her major was graphic design but she also completed the same design certification program that you did."

"Well, I don't know much about her yet" said Dawn. "but maybe we should have her do more work and have her stop bringing us coffee and sandwiches and stuff?"

Carol laughed "yeah, probably."

Just then an idea came to Dawn and she said "Tell you what. Why don't I have her assist me on this project? She can learn the ropes and see what it takes to actually complete a project instead of just watching?"

Carol's eyes lit up. "That would be great, Dawn!"

"Ok. Well, I need to head out but we'll talk about that later, ok?"

"Sounds good. Hey, don't forget you guys are having dinner with your Dad and I tonight." said Carol.

Dawn felt pretty happy as she walked out to her car, excited at the opportunity to start mentoring someone the way Carol had mentored her. She knew how lucky she was to have found a great career and definitely wanted to pay it forward to someone else. Then she was off to the beach to meet the clients..in a VERY good mood.

Dawn's good vibes continued on the way back home to pick up River. The client had chosen Dawn's wild card design of the blue tiles, and she couldn't wait to get the project going.

Unfortunately for Dawn, the good feeling of that day wasn't going to last very long..


	3. Chapter 3

"WHAT?!" exclaimed Dawn and she looked at her husband, completely dumbfounded.

"That's what he told us" replied Jack Schaefer, Dawn's father.

"How long has he even been out?" asked Dawn.

"About two years now" replied her dad.

"How often do you talk to Jeff?" Ben asked Jack.

"Not a whole lot" he replied. "Maybe once every few months."

"Yeah," muttered Carol. "But it's usually to ask for money or he needs a favor. I can't say I look forward to hearing what your Dad has to say as soon as he gets off the phone with him."

Jack gave his wife a bit of a nasty look, not appreciating her badmouthing his son but at the same time, knowing she was absolutely right.

Dawn looked at Carol and said "why didn't you tell me he was out?"

Carol sighed and said "You have a nice life, Dawn. I didn't want to bring Jeff's drama into it. I know how you feel about him."

Ben let the conversation continue and started asking more questions while Dawn just sat back in her chair, ignoring the food on the table and the background noise of the restaurant and began to recall all the things that have happened that led them to be having this conversation in the first place.

Dawn and Jeff hadn't had a good relationship for well over 10 years now. It started when Dawn got a little older and was about to graduate high school when she noticed Jeff started acting out a lot more. He was mostly just mouthing off to her, Jack and Carol but it really turned into this crazy snowball effect. First the mouthing off. Then the decline in his grades and he began hanging out with a new group of kids. BAD kids. When weird smells started emitting from under his door, Dawn knew he was smoking pot but she decided not to rat him out. After Jeff got arrested for shoplifting, she assumed her dad would crack the whip but it wasn't until he got arrested a second time and expelled from school for getting caught with drugs in 10th grade that finally sent Jeff packing and he was shipped back out to Stonebrook to live with Dawn's mom and stepfather, Richard.

With Jeff gone, there was peace in the household again and Dawn had just started working for Carol. It had been almost a year before Jeff was sent back by Sharon, who was unable to deal with his erratic behavior and having caught him stealing her painkillers she had left over from a previous surgery.

Things went from great to terrible almost immediately and Dawn had decided to get her own place and began saving as much money she could as quickly as she could. She had managed to hoard almost $1,500 in 3 months and she found the perfect studio apartment not far from where she worked but after signing a rental agreement and trying to pay the deposit, her check bounced and she found out her bank account was empty. It didn't take her long to trace the theft back to Jeff and was provided with a copy of a stolen check that Jeff had made out to "cash." For Dawn, it was the final straw and she decided that stealing hard earned money from a sibling and him refusing to return it was unforgivable. While she declined to press charges, she refused to speak to him either, despite still being stuck in the same house with the guy.

By the time Dawn was 24, Jeff was still at home reeking havoc but she had long since moved out and into an apartment with her then-boyfriend, Ben. Jeff had managed to get a sales job at a major department store and while Dawn kept her contact with him to a minimum, she was hoping that having a full time job would make him grow up and put an end to his bad boy behavior. That quickly changed when she got a phone call from her sobbing father saying Jeff had been arrested at work. He had stolen a $2,000 television from the electronics department and had been charged with felony theft and her heart broke. Not for Jeff but for her father and she convinced him to stop giving him chances and NOT to bail him out of jail. Because of his prior offenses, he was originally sentenced to 8 months but due to his constant defiance and fighting, he had managed to buy himself 3 extra years in jail. Dawn hasn't spoken to him since the day he was arrested.

Her attention shifted back to the conversation and she was still trying to process what her dad had just told her: That Jeff was out of jail and he was engaged.

"So he just calls you out of the blue and tells you he's getting married?" asked Dawn.

Her dad replied "Yeah, pretty much."

Ben chimed in, asking "and who the hell is this girl?"

"Her name is Julie. He didn't really tell me much about her."

"How did they meet?" asked Dawn.

"All he said was that he met her through work" said Jack.

With anger and tension building up inside her, Dawn decided she had enough of the conversation and said "This is too much for me right now" before looking at her husband and saying "I think were going to go?"

"Yeah, honey. We can go" he replied.

Her Dad started talking again, saying "I didn't mean to upset you, Sunshine but you need to know about this."

She waved her hand at him and said "it's fine, Dad. I'm just done talking about it" and walked away from the table without even saying goodbye. Before following Dawn outside, Ben asked Jack "do you need me to get the check or..?"

Knowing Ben needed to get Dawn out of there, Mr. Schaeffer said "it's ok" but paused for a second before adding "the wedding is in three weeks. Jeff said he wants all of you there." Ben nodded as he went to go catch up to Dawn.

When they pulled into their driveway, Ben asked Dawn "are you ok?"

"I'm fine" she said. "I'm just a bit in shock. I mean, I literally haven't even thought about my brother in years. Now I find out that he's been out of jail, Carol and my Dad have been talking to him the whole time..and all of a sudden I have to attend a wedding of a person I don't even know anymore?"

"I feel ya. This is all very sudden" he said.

Knowing that River was inside her house with her most trusted baby-sitter and best friend, she said "I just want to be with my son right now..and I just want to talk to Sunny."


	4. Chapter 4

Over the weekend, Dawn had calmed down a bit, having had a chance to talk to her Mom, her California best friend Sunny Winslow and to her Connecticut best friend and step-sister, Mary-Anne Spier, all of whom told Dawn she needs to give Jeff another chance simply so she doesn't cast a dark cloud over Jeff's wedding and for the sake of family unity.

Dawn spent most of her Monday morning in her office, chatting with her intern Jessica and explaining not only what it takes to be in the business they were in but also explaining that they had big plans for her and wanted to make sure she was up for it, which she was and that built up a quite a bit of excitement in Dawn. She really did enjoy working with new people and she felt like this girl had a lot of potential.

The constant conversing with Jessica, as well as spending the entire day with her trucking around between the tile store, the cabinet store and the paint store to place orders for their supplies proved to be a good distraction for Dawn and prevented her from thinking about the inevitable phone call she'd have to have with Jeff later that day.

After dropping Jessica back at the office, Dawn sat in her car for a good 10 minutes and contemplated when to give Jeff a call, which was either right then on the way to pick up River or later on at home, after her son was in bed and perhaps after a nice glass of wine. She figured she would stress or chicken out if she waited too long so she just decided to do it right then and get it overwith.

The phone call was a little awkward but pretty uneventful and civil, with no mention of jail or Dawn's decision to cut him off and after just ten minutes, it ended with Jeff agreeing to meet Dawn privately for coffee the following weekend and then they planned for a visit and dinner at her house accompanied by his fiance, Julie. She just hoped it would all go smoothly.

Before going to bed, Dawn decided to check her phone and saw that she had received a text a few hours earlier from Stacey McGill, her longtime friend who lives in the L.A. area. It was a picture of Stacey's 8 month old son Zack, looking adorable with his big blue eyes and blonde curly hair and standing up in his crib with the caption "Uh Oh! Look who's standing up!"

It was a bit late but Dawn texted back anyway "OMG, he's so cute!" Not receiving an immediate response, and suddenly feeling the need for some additional support, she sent a second text that said "Hey. I know it's late but are you busy right now? I really want to talk to you."

An immediate response did follow. "Of course. You can call me any time."

That did it.


	5. Chapter 5

"Well hello!" said a cheerful Stacey.

"Um, hey. How are you so energetic right now?" replied Dawn.

"I sleep when Zack sleeps" she answered.

"Lucky you. Thanks for letting me call you this late."

"Is everything alright?" Stacey asked. "How is River? Ben? Are they ok?"

"Yes, of course. Everything is fine with the fam, Stace. I just had a very interesting dinner with my parents last Friday and I kinda need to vent about it" she said.

"Oh, ok. Well, go for it" said Stacey.

"Weeell..apparently Jeff's out of jail."

"Oh REALLY? Wow!" exclaimed Stacey.

Dawn continued on. "..he's been out for about two years now, talking to my Dad and Carol the whole time and they never even told me about it."

"Oh hell. Are you kidding me?!" said Stacey angrily. "Why wouldn't they tell you?"

"Carol claimed I 'didn't need drama in my life' but I still think they should have told me" Dawn answered.

"No, you're right. They should have told you" she agreed. "I'm sorry about that. How are you feeling about him being out?"

"Oh, I'm not even done" muttered Dawn.

"Oh boy.." replied Stacey.

"He's getting married!" she exclaimed.

"Married?" said a stunned Stacey. "To..what?"

"Ha!" laughed Dawn. "That's kind of what I was thinking too. So anyway, hes getting married in 3 weeks and he wants Ben, River and myself to attend. Sunny too, but not sure if she will."

"Wow" said Stacey for a second time. "Are you going?"

"I'm not sure yet. I am going to let him come over next weekend with his fiancee though. So we'll see how that goes. I'm just a little torn. Mary Anne, my mom and Sunny think I should just suck it up and go for the family. I just wanted to know what your opinion is."

"Well, I'm pretty much like you and kind of a grudge holder. Remember when you brought him along to that party at my dorm? What was he? Like 15 or something?" asked Stacey.

"Oh yeah.." replied Dawn.

"That little shit stole $20 from my purse AND one of my needles!" she exclaimed.

Dawn shook her head, remembering the incident which devastated her to find out her brother was shooting drugs too.

"So you know MY thoughts about the situation but family is important too. So you definitely need to be there for your Dad and Carol. Your mom and Richard too. It's really unfair to say but I think it might make YOU look like the bad guy this time around."

Dawn sighed and said "You're right" before she heard crying in the background.

Bummed knowing that she'd now have to end her short phone call with her friend, she said "someone's awake."

"Yeah. He probably needs a bottle" said Stacey, who paused for a second before asking "so you said you're meeting with him this Saturday?"

"Yeah" she replied.

"Why don't you come up and visit on Sunday, then? Are you up for driving to L.A.? I'd love to have you over for lunch or something."

"Hmm..I think I can do that."

"Awesome. I'll talk to Dave. Claudia too. You sound like you need an escape" she said.

"Yeah. It would be nice to not think about this for a day" said Dawn. "I'll call you when I can figure out the times."

"Sounds great. Sorry to cut you off so short but I'll talk to you soon" said Stacey and she hung up.

That definitely put Dawn in a better mood and even though she was dreading the meeting with her estranged brother, now she at least had a nice day with some great friends to look forward to.


	6. Chapter 6

With her design project now in the hands of the contractors and Jessica under Carol's wing to help her with HER latest project, Dawn was just going through the motions at work and trying her best to focus on her husband and son and not on Jeff.

The days flew by and before she knew it, there she was sitting nervously on the outside patio of Coffee Bean, feeling a bit nauseous and unable to drink her iced latte. She looked around and there was no sign of Jeff so she shot Sunny a quick text.

"I can't believe I'm here about to see Jeff."

"Hey Dawn" came a deep and unfamiliar voice and she looked up. Up and into the eyes of her brother.

She was a bit taken back by his appearance. He was still fair haired like her but his skin looked a lot darker. Almost a tan reddish color, like he had been spending a lot of time outdoors. He was also BIG. Not fat but meatier and more muscular, which she figured must be a side effect from his time in jail. He never grew tall like Dawn was and he only ended up being 5' 8, which only exacerbated his bulky appearance. She did notice he was dressed very nice, though and wearing a light blue polo shirt with khaki pants but his gold watch was what really caught her attention and she wondered how he was able to get that because it looked exactly like her husband's Rolex.

"H..h..hey Jeff " stammered Dawn as she mustered up a fake smile before standing up and giving him a bit of an awkward hug. She gestured for him to sit down and she did the same.

"It's good to see you" he said.

"You too" she said.

Over the next hour, they began getting reacquainted, Dawn filling him in on her life, her son, her business and even telling him about her recent trip to Connecticut for the reunion last year with all the girls from the BSC. Then he began filling her in on his life.

He worked in construction and that's how he met his fiancee. Her father was the owner of a huge construction company in San Diego, where he now lives, and he brought her along with him to a job that Jeff was working on. When he said she was interested in him right away and actually asked HIM out, Dawn tried to act happy for him but couldn't understand why a girl who clearly sounded privileged would go for a guy like Jeff. As he spoke, she noticed a good chunk of his front tooth was chipped away. That, unfortunately must have been another side effect from jail and she assumed it was broken in a fight.

Despite Dawn having several negative thoughts like that, it was actually a nice and pleasant visit and she became eager for him to meet her baby. Since Jeff was dropped off by Julie, Dawn drove him back to her house.

"So is she just going to hang out around here for the next few hours?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah. She said she'll be at your house at 4" replied Jeff.

"Hmm.." said Dawn. "I feel kinda bad. Why didn't you just drive down here yourself?"

"I, um..I don't have a car" he said, hesitantly.

"Oh. Sorry."

Dawn and Jeff walked into her impressive front entryway and were greeted by silence. "Ben must be upstairs with River" Dawn declared. "Well, let me show you around" as she took him into her kitchen.

"I actually designed this myself" Dawn began to say but Jeff interrupted her with "it's too dark in here."

A bit surprised, Dawn looked down at her terra cotta floor, then to her brown marble countertops and said "well yes. It's supposed to be. It's Spanish style."

"Julie's parents have a really nice kitchen" said Jeff. It's nothing like this, though. Everything is white and clean."

"Ooookay" thought Dawn to herself before adding "why don't you come upstairs with me? Let's see the baby."

"Hi Jeff" said Ben, coldly when he saw him.. He didn't know Jeff very well and only met him twice. He made eye contact for a few seconds before turning back to River, who he was sitting on the floor with and playing.

"Hello..doctor" he said, emphasizing a bit on Ben's title, almost sarcastically.

Trying to ignore that, Ben asked "Did Dawn show you around yet? She designed this house herself, you know. She did an amazing job."

Completely oblivious to River, he answered flatly "yeah, she showed me the kitchen but I like lighter colors better" and then repeated himself and said "my fiance, Julie? Well, her parents have a really nice kitchen. Its bigger than yours, actually."

Ben just shook his head in disgust before declaring "so this is your nephew."

Turning his attention to the baby, Jeff knelt down to him and awkwardly said "hi."

"You can pick him up if you want to" said Dawn, looking at her son who actually seemed very content playing with his blocks on the floor.

"Nah. I don't hold babies. I only like playing with Julie's nephews. They're really cute" he said.

"So is River" thought Dawn as she looked at her beautiful chubby cheeked son, with his dark blonde hair and the Schaefer blue eyes he inherited from her. She got a comment on how cute he was every time she took him out. It seemed to her like Jeff was implying her son wasn't cute but of course, she didn't say anything because Jeff kept talking.

"I feel like they're my real nephews too. I hope they start calling me Uncle Jeff as soon as we get married" he stated.

Dawn couldn't help but think how weird this conversation was. She asked "should we be expecting her soon?"

Jeff looked at his fancy gold watch and said "probably in the next hour."

"Why don't I start getting dinner ready, then? Jeff, would you like to help?"

"You aren't taking us out for dinner?" he asked.

"Um, I thought a nice home-cooked family dinner here would be nicer" she said.

As they walked out of the room, Jeff said to Dawn a bit rudely "well, I guess I'm just used to going out for dinner. Julie's parents take us out all the time. To NICE places too." As they were reaching the bottom of the stairs, Jeff said to her with a smirk on his face "they're really rich, you know."


	7. Chapter 7

On the drive to Los Angeles to visit Stacey and Claudia, Dawn kept thinking about how odd and awkward the dinner was the night before and recalled seeing Jeff's fiancee Julie for the first time. She was a very sweet girl but very shy and reserved and didn't have much to say other than expressing her adoration for Jeff. The other thing? She was..weird looking. Her frizzy hair was clearly naturally brown but it was dyed blonde and it was obvious she tried to blowdry it straight but didn't have much luck. She also had a bunch of freckles, a slight overbite, couldn't have been any more than 5 feet tall and was significantly overweight . While Dawn wasn't a petty person at all and would never judge a person's appearance, she couldn't help but notice how unattractive this lady was and she recalled the endless hours she spent at the gym getting in the best shape she could leading up to her wedding and yes, she felt awful for even thinking so superficially, but at the same time, she couldn't help but think it was odd that Julie would allow herself to wear a wedding dress in that physical condition.

The discussion at the table was strange too, with Jeff and Julie displaying way too much PDA between them and Jeff throwing several subtly rude comments towards Ben and Dawn about numerous things like their house and their jobs and insulting Dawn's cooking by repeating that his preference was to eat at a restaurant instead but the evening was also filled with endless praise of his fiancee and her family. While he didn't want to upset Dawn and call Jeff out for his disrespect, it was enough to piss Ben off to the point that he told Dawn that Jeff wasn't allowed back there again. After such a nice visit just a few hours prior at the coffee shop gave Dawn hope that they can finally work on rebuilding their relationship, it ended in utter disappointment for her and she was reminded why she didn't like him in the first place. She was at a complete loss and had no idea what to do. Thank goodness she had an afternoon with her good friends Claudia and Stacey to look forward to and hoped they might have some advice for her.


	8. Chapter 9

"Bye bye sweet boy" said Dawn as she gave Stacey's son Zack a kiss on his chubby cheek and she ruffled his light blonde curls with her hand while Stacey's husband Dave was holding him.

"Thanks for taking him out, babe" yelled Stacey from her kitchen.

"It's no problem" he answered back. "Besides, these boys can't handle any more of your 'girls afternoon' " he said sarcastically.

"Bye, Dave" said Dawn as she gave him a hug. "It was so nice to see you again."

"You too" he said.

"Bye, Angel Boy" said Claudia to Zack before Dave took him out to the car.

After taking their seats at Stacey's kitchen table, Dawn gushed "he is truly adorable. Stace." Stirring something around in a huge bowl on her counter, Stacey turned backwards towards Dawn's and said "Thanks. Next time though, we need to get our boys together."

"Absolutely. I'm so sorry I missed Ava" Dawn said sadly.

Stacey sighed and said. "Me too. Gotta love that co-parenting, huh?"

Dawn looked at Stacey standing at her counter and thought she looked great in her black tank top and white shorts that showed off her long legs. Dawn was glad she had lost all of her baby weight and she appeared to be happy and healthy.

Claudia looked good too and she had spent the past year growing out her hair past her shoulders which was a clear sign to Dawn that she was starting to live in the moment and not keep it short in fear of losing her hair again. She was actually dressed more plain than usual, sporting a plain pair of dark blue jean shorts and an off white v- neck tshirt but it was clear to Dawn that Claudia was only dressed like that due to the summer heat. The real Claudia was still poking through with her sparkling blue and silver beaded crystal necklace and matching bracelet.

As she placed two big bowls on the table, Stacey said "So I made this pesto pasta and added shredded parmesan.

"Yum" said Dawn.

She continued "and this salad is pretty basic. Just romaine with artichoke hearts, roma tomatoes, cucumbers and feta cheese."

"That sounds good to me" said Dawn.

Stacey asked "would you like anything to drink? Water?"

"Yeah, that's fine" replied Dawn.

After they spend a few minutes quietly eating, Stacey said to her best friend "Don't worry, Claud. I have brownies too."

Claudia smiled. "Aww, you're the best." Then looked at Dawn and said "Stacey takes such good care of me."

"Hey, thanks for letting me know you aren't a vegan anymore, Dawn" Stacey added. I mean, I always respected your discipline but-"

"Don't even worry about it" interrupted Dawn. I rediscovered my passion for cheese during my pregnancy."

After a few more minutes, Claudia finally brought up the elephant in the room. "So how did your reunion with Jeff go?"

"Oh, yes please" grinned Stacey. "I'm always a sucker for gossip."

Dawn frowned and said "not good."

"Oh, man. Seriously?" asked Stacey.

"I'm afraid so" she replied.

"What happened?" asked Claudia.

"Well, it started out fine" Dawn began. "We went to coffee, we caught up and he was very pleasant but as soon as he came to our house, it's like he flipped a switch."

"How so?" asked Stacey.

"First he started insulting my house, saying-"

"What?!" shouted Claudia. Your house is amazing. I'd give anything to be able to afford a place like yours."

"It really is" added Stacey. You did an amazing job."

"Oh. Well, thanks ladies" said Dawn, who said to Stacey "by the way, you too. This house is beautiful." Stacey smiled and said "thanks."

She continued on. "So anyway, he starts going on about how nice his future in laws house is, almost mocking Ben's title and made a point to call him 'doctor' in a real nasty way."

"Woah" said Claudia. "That's really out of line."

"Tell me about it" said Dawn. "but the part that bothered me the most was he made a point to tell me how rich Julie's parents are. Like, what do I care? Why SHOULD I care?"

Claudia had a confused look on her face and replied "Weird. So what's this girl like anyways?"

Still feeling horrible, Dawn gave them the rundown of Julie, what she looks like, her lack of social skills and her clear infatuation with Jeff. She finished off with "sadly, she's almost a bit lucky to get Jeff. I mean, he's still somewhat decent looking I guess. At least compared to her."

Stacey sat back in her chair and folded her arms, with a nasty look on her face.

"What?" asked Dawn.

"Um, it's not obvious to you?" Stacey said angrily.

"Umm..?" Dawn trailed off.

"Well, think about it. Do you really think Jeff has much of a future? With his track record, do you really think he has the ability to make anything of himself? To get a decent job? To afford a nice place to live? Do you really think he cares less that she's gross?"

"Oh crap" realized Dawn.

"What?" asked Claudia.

Stacey said "Claud, he's using her. To get back on his feet again."

"Oh hell" muttered Claudia.

Dawn shook her head in disbelief but said "that makes so much more sense. Jeez, what a creep. Honestly."

"Bad people rarely change, sweetie" Stacey said softly. "I'm really sorry."

She replied "Yeah. Me too. I guess it was naive of me to think that. Now I'm just pissed I have to go to this stupid wedding" she muttered. I don't want to spend a penny on a new dress either.

Stacey's nasty look transformed into a smile as her eyes lit up and she said "I have dresses! Wear one of mine. Come on, you can try a few on! " as she stood up and gestured down her hallway towards her bedroom.

Dawn sighed and asked "Really, Stace? You want to play dress up? Aren't you 30?"

Stacey giggled and said "Hey, you're never too old for dress up. Now COME ON!" as she dragged Dawn by the hand to her bedroom.

"Oh yes" said Claudia. "Lets!"

Dawn fingered through the section of Stacey's walk-in closet that held her dressier items and a plain black dress caught her eye so she pulled it out. Sleeveless and mid-thigh length, it had a bit of draping in the waist area but other than that, there wasn't much to it. "This might work" said Dawn.

Stacey burst out laughing and Dawn immediately felt a little spray of wetness on her arm and shouted "Sta-CEY! You just spit on me!"

"I'm..so..sorry" said Stacey in between gasps.

"What's so funny?" asked Dawn. "I mean, it's a nice dress."

"I wore that dress to Dave's grandmother's funeral!" giggled Stacey, causing both Claudia and Dawn to erupt into a fit of laughter that lasted a few minutes. After they had all calmed down and caught their breath, Dawn said "well, then I can't think of anything more perfect to wear than this dress."


	9. Chapter 10

Dawn hesitantly put on her lip gloss and looked at herself in the bathroom mirror of her hotel. She certainly looked nice but she obviously wished she was dressing up for something else.

"You look pretty. As always" said Sunny Winslow.

"Thanks. So do you" said Dawn as she looked her best friend up and dow. Sunny looked truly lovely in her dress, a black sleeveless chiffon number with a yellow flower print. Dawn had decided to take the high road for the wedding rehearsal brunch and not wear an outfit similar to her funeral/wedding dress and pulled out a light blue halter sun dress from her own closet. Not owning any matching shoes, she paired it with a pair of nude pumps because she really could care less whether she matched but Sunny assured her that the outfit looked great. Since Ben refused to attend the wedding, Sunny stepped in as Dawn's plus one and for that, she was eternally grateful.

"Are you ready for this?" she asked.

"I'll be fine" replied Dawn. "I just need to accept this is how it is. Jeff is always going to be this way no matter what and I just have to suck it up."

"That's really nice of you" said Sunny.

Having thought long and hard about the whole situation and with the encouragement of her mother, Dawn decided to be the bigger person and let Jeff back into her life, whether she cared for him or not. He was still her only brother after all so she decided..family first.

"Let's go" said Sunny.


	10. Chapter 11

"Woah. This is SWANK!" exclaimed Sunny as the two of them walked into the Four Season's Aviara of San Diego. Dawn agreed but decided not to say anything in response and instead, walked arm in arm with Sunny to The Season's Restaurant to meet up with her family for brunch, then the wedding rehearsal was to take place on the back patio. They took their places at the table where they found their names on place cards, which prompted Sunny to roll her eyes and say "Oh jeez.." Dawn also rolled her eyes and said "tell me about it" but was relieved to see that she was sitting at the same table with her Dad and Carol. " While Dawn did quite well in life, fancy parties with place cards at the table was neither her, nor Sunny's cup of tea.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a few people she didn't recognize at the table next to theirs and assumed they were Julie's family because Jeff and Julie were already at the table..cuddling and displaying PDA again and it made her want to puke. Luckily, she hadn't started eating yet.

Brunch was at least pleasant and Dawn and Sunny spent the majority of it chatting with her Dad and Carol and while she was bummed out that her Mom and Richard weren't there to join them, she at least looked forward to seeing them the following day at the wedding. Dawn's dad ended up giving a toast but Carol opted out and stayed seated but Dawn thought the toast from Julie's father was too much, praising Jeff like he was such a stand up guy who was the best thing that ever happened to his daughter and blah blah blah.

After making their way to the patio for the rehearsal, Dawn was reminded of her own wedding, although hers wasn't in such a fancy garden under a gazebo. Sunny and herself mostly sat there in silence while everyone in the wedding party did their thing but before it was time for everyone to leave, Jeff's future father-in-law, who's name Dawn didn't even bother to learn, stood on the steps of the gazebo and announced "thank you to everyone for coming! I'm really looking forward to my baby girl getting married tomorrow and looking forward to officially welcoming Jeff to our family.."

After some light clapping, he continued his announcement. "I have one more surprise for you, Jeff. Everyone, will you please follow me?" and began walking to the driveway, gesturing for everyone their to follow. As everyone reached the driveway just outside the clubhouse where the reception was to be held, he pointed to a silver BMW parked in it and said, his voice cracking "Thank you for making my daughter so happy. This is for you..son."

Wild applause from the crowd followed as this man embraced Jeff into a huge hug.

"Oh..my..GOD" said Sunny as she looked at Dawn with her jaw hanging open is disbelief and shock.

Everyone there seemed very happy for Jeff and reveled in the creepy love fest but Dawn felt rage building up inside her and she snapped to Sunny "This is RIDICULOUS! I've had enough!" and began marching over to where Jeff was standing. Behind her, she heard Sunny say "Dawn! Dont!" As she reached him, ready to confront him in front of everyone, she said sternly, "alright Jeff. You know what?"

..but as she began talking, she quickly glanced to her right and saw almost 20 people, all within earshot. People she knew and people she didn't know and immediately realized what a fool she would look like if she confronted Jeff in front of everyone like that and quickly changed her plan, stammering "J..Jeff.."

"Uh, yeah?" he asked.

"I..um..I just want to say. I'm so..happy for you guys."

He smiled and said excitedly. "Thank you, Dawn!" before turning to the crowd and saying "This is my sister , everyone!" and gave her a big hug. As he did so, she whispered "before the wedding, will you have a drink with me? Tonight? Hang out with me for an hour or so?"

He pulled back and said "well sure. I'm staying at the same hotel. The bar in the lobby?"

Dawn replied. "Yeah. That's good."

As she walked back to where Sunny was standing, she muttered to herself, "great."


	11. Chapter 12

Sipping on a glass of white wine, Dawn found herself sitting face to face with Jeff just a few hours later, but as she expected, his stand up super son-in-law persona was long gone and he asked her "so why did you bring me here?"

Slightly taken aback, she answered "I suppose I could be asking you the same thing. Why am I here?"

"You're my sister. Why wouldn't I invite you?" he asked.

"Well, if you want me here, why are you so rude?" Dawn asked.

"I'm not rude" he answered matter-of-factly.

"I haven't seen you in years, Jeff and all you have been doing for the past two weeks is insult me, my house and my family? You're prancing around this hotel, acting like you're better than everyone. You weren't raised that way" she sternly answered.

"I'm getting a nice life now" he answered. "There's nothing wrong with enjoying the finer things in life."

"You have turned our family upside down! Upside down, left and right. You've stolen from us, you've been to jail."

"Don't ever say that in front of Julie!" he demanded.

"You didn't tell her?!" Dawn exclaimed. "Oh my God, Jeff."

He didn't answer so she continued. "So, you're lying to her. Lying to her whole family? Lovely. It's no wonder they love you so much. They don't know the real you. I TRIED, Jeff. I tried to give you a second chance because everyone told me you deserved it. But after all these years, you're just the same bad guy you always were, AREN'T YOU?"

He sat there with his arms crossed, clearly unfazed by what Dawn was saying and said "I wouldn't say that. I have nice things now so I'm not going to steal anymore. That's something."

Recalling her conversation with Stacey and Claudia two weeks ago, Dawn blurted out "do you love this girl?

"Of course I do" he answered.

"No. Do you really love her or do you just love what she can give you?" Tell me the truth."

Jeff was silent for a minute before he answered "what does it matter?"

Utterly disappointed, she shook her head and said "So you really are using her."

With a disgusting and smug look on his face, he looked her right in the eye and said "So?"

"SO?!" she exclaimed. "So you're taking advantage of this poor girl's wealth so you can get back on your feet? It's not right."

"Oh, like you didn't do the same?"

"EXCUSE ME?" she said angrily.

He replied sarcastically "Oooh, Dr. and Mrs. Ben Weiss..give me a break."

"I already had a business when we met..at a coffee shop. I didn't go actively searching for a guy with money. I didn't find out he was a doctor until our third date! We lived in a 1 bedroom apartment for years before we got that house" she said

"Oh please. You only have a business because Carol handed it to you. You didn't earn it."

"I didn't earn it? Jeff, I answered phones there for years. I went to school for what I do. She didn't hand it to me" Dawn answered.

He scoffed and said "Yeah, Whatever."

"No, NOT whatever, Jeff. My God, what happened to you? Why are you like this?" she asked.

"I don't need to explain anything to you. I'm getting an amazing new life out of this and don't have to do a damn thing. You're just jealous that you cant do the same" he said.

She said "You are reminding me exactly why I stopped talking to you. You're just.."

While every nasty name she could call him ran through her head, Dawn couldn't think of any that best described him and instead said "you're such a bad person. Shame on you."

"I guess we're done here?" asked Jeff.

She answered "I would say so."

Then, giving him the same sarcastic smirk he had given her several times over the last two weeks, said "now that you're doing so well, I think you can take care of the bill this time?"

As she began to turn and walk away, Jeff said "so..I take it you won't be there tomorrow then will you?"

"No" she said. "No, I won't" and she went back up to her hotel room, to go pack up her things.

As soon as she reached her room, she slammed the door behind her, startling Sunny, prompting her to get off the bed and ask "Dawn, what happened?"

Her anger began turning into heartbreak and she just slid down the door onto the floor and burst into tears. Sunny ran up to her and just held her close as she poured her heart out for the next few hours.

The last thing Sunny said to her before they fell asleep was "I'm so sorry but..at least you tried."


	12. Chapter 13

Dawn took a deep breath and continued talking.

"I know you may be mad now, but I just hope you will find it in your heart to forgive me. I love you, Mom. I'm sorry."

Dawn hung up, finishing her voicemail to her mom, who refused to pick up the phone.

"Are you alright?" asked Sunny from the passenger seat.

"Yeah. I'm ok" Dawn answered as she looked at her puffy eyes in the rearview mirror. They looked terrible but Dawn felt good because she knew she would never shed another tear for Jeff again.

Even though she knew what Stacey had said was right and she would look like the bad guy for a while, she still felt a sense of peace because she knew her Dad and Carol would forgive her. In time, so would her Mom.

She glanced over and looked at her lifelong best friend next to her, Sunny's strawberry blonde hair and freckles looking exactly the same as they did when they were teenagers and she felt so lucky to have her. While her relationship with her brother may be over, Dawn realized that sometimes, the closest and most important bonds aren't necessarily the ones you are born with but the ones you find along the way. She had Sunny. She had Carol, Ben and River. She had a wonderful stepfamily and her oldest friends Stacey and Claudia, once thousands of miles across the country were now just a car ride away.

Despite this little bump in the road, Dawn's life was still good and she was determined to keep it that way.

THE END


	13. Chapter 14

Thank you for reading this more serious story and I hope you enjoyed it.

Any suggestions? Any sitter's story you'd like to read about next? Anything you'd like to see happen to them?

Thanks!


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